Twelve months of flowers

Dennis Conrad

May 2, 2023 5:18 PM

Dennis Conrad

I’ve lived in Reno now for nearly 30 years, after almost 20 years in Las Vegas. In Reno, I’ve had many reasons to buy flowers, mostly for my wife, but also for many clients and employees at my former consulting company Raving. I’ve bought flowers perhaps 100-150 times since moving to northern Nevada.

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And I’ve always bought my floral arrangements at Sparks Florist. Even with only three retail outlets (a store in Reno and a small shop at Reno’s Renown Hospital, plus one in the sister city of Sparks) and a distribution and design center, Sparks Florist, I believe, does the most flower business in Nevada.

Now I don’t recall any particular reason why I chose Sparks Florist decades ago. But I can say why I’ve been back there at least 100 times since. This business has been flawless in its execution, never screwing up a single one of my orders or deliveries. The staff is friendly and attentive and they always provide floral arrangements that last and stay fresh a long time.

But I’m not writing this column because Sparks Florist has excellent products and customer service. Certainly, the gaming industry for which I write could learn something in that regard from my florist. It could also learn from Sparks Florist’s bedrock principle of living by the Golden Rule, or its 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, or its trademarked, long-time brand of “Your Personal Florist.” Or from owner Mike Fiannaca’s personalized thank you’s to his best customers (hard to believe I’m a flower VIP!) or his coordinated marketing communications to his customers that have bought flowers on specific holidays in the past 63 years of Sparks Florist’s existence.

No, I’m writing about Sparks Florist because of its “12 Months of Flowers.” And the gaming industry should steal the idea, find a way to make it work for our industry and our constituents, and achieve the same impressive business and community results.

I first heard about 12 Months of Flowers from my wife Becky, who has been a volunteer at the best-in-class Wilbur D. May Arboretum in Reno for the last 17 years. She came home one day from her raking, trimming, and planting duties to tell me about a 12 Months of Flowers program Sparks Florist had started that could benefit the Arboretum.

“What’s the deal?” I asked.

“Well,” she said, “for forty bucks, you get a card that lets you go into a Sparks Florist every month and pick up a fresh bouquet of flowers. The May Arboretum Society gets a ten-dollar donation from each card purchased and the buyer over the year gets 180 dollars’ worth of flowers for forty bucks.”
It sounded almost too good to be true.

It wasn’t. For the last five years, we’ve purchased a 12 Months of Flowers card and for the last two years, we ‘ve bought two of them, sharing one flower bunch a month with friends for special occasions or just because.

The genius of this program gnawed at me and I had to find out more about it from Mike Fiannaca, who graciously spent over an hour with me recently discussing 12 Months of Flowers. And it turned out to be even more impressive than I thought.

Mike didn’t conceive the idea for 12 Months of Flowers six years ago. It came from a small, select, invitation-only industry group of long-time successful florists in the country. It was called the Midwest Group; I guess that’s where it started. One of its members had done 12 Months of Flowers and shared the details.

Mike liked everything he heard about the program and its success. If done right, organizations could earn significant donations from their supporters in the community who wanted a great deal on flowers. The 10-15 charity requests that Sparks Florist received each week (and, unfortunately, couldn’t afford to donate to very many) could now be funneled into an affordable WIN-WIN program for the community organizations AND Sparks Florist. It would drive numerous monthly visits into the Sparks Florist locations to pick up that month’s flowers (and maybe purchase more for other occasions?). It would have a top-of-mind and brand benefit. It would make Sparks Florist employees feel good about what they were doing for the community.

And after six years of conducting 12 Months of Flowers, here’s what Mike Fiannaca of Sparks Florist shared with me as its cumulative and impressive results:

• 15,000 cards sold by more than 100 participating community organizations
• $150,000 donated to these groups
• At an 80% redemption rate, 144,000 visits made to Sparks Florist to retrieve monthly flowers
• $450,000 in flower sales have defrayed much of the program’s flower product costs for Sparks Florist, allowing it to conduct the program and provide its employee staffing at no cost
• 12 Months of Flowers continues to grow, mainly on word of mouth and the positive experience of the participating organizations

I’ve become a Raving Fan of Sparks Florist. If 12 Months of Flowers and the details of its culture and way of doing business haven’t convinced you of the big heart and wise philosophy of “customer worship” of this family business in the Reno/Sparks area, then this story that Mike Fiannaca shared with me surely will.

A very elderly lady came into a Sparks Florist location to return a floral wreath that she’d purchased two years earlier and had been sitting at her late husband’s gravesite. She felt it was disappointing that it was in such bad shape. With no questions asked and because of its 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, Sparks Florist promptly replaced the wreath. After the woman had left and before throwing the battered floral arrangement in the dumpster, the employee noticed a tag on the back of the wreath. It said “Kmart.”

I’m betting casinos could learn a lot from Sparks Florist. Sure, these casinos could have the many organizations they support get involved in 12 Months of Flowers. Or better yet, they could come up with their own big-hearted and difference-making 12 Months of Slot Play.

The smart and creative ones among you should be able to figure it out.